I spent some time contemplating history last week, and realised just how many times we have been through moments like this. The Civil War in Britain; the storming of the Bastille in France; the Russian Revolution; the themes of many German philosophers during the 1800s, such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche; and more. Throughout…
After the LIBOR debacle and the money laundering affairs of Standard Chartered and HSBC, the UK’s banks reputation are in the toilet. Now we have to rebuild, and this is where it gets interesting and challenging. After claiming that the Americans were holding our banks to ransom last week, we now see the potentially true…
I’ve blogged a lot about the history of the City of London, but what about its future? Right now, we could all imagine there won’t be one, but there is. It’s just going to be different. Now, I could speculate on the wholesale restructuring of British Banking and British bank regulations, as that’s definitely going…
Technology develops at a pace and this is no more vividly illustrated than by the Olympic Games, as I discovered in a visit to the BBC’s Olympic theatre yesterday. The BBC has been involved in the Olympics pretty much since they were first established back in 1922 and the Olympic Games are the perfect showcase…
Rebuilding trust. A phrase that is used regularly throughout the banking industry since the crisis began. I particularly remember it being used as a theme at SIBOS two years ago; it was a theme that ran through Bob Diamond’s Today Lecture in 2011; and it is a theme that is running throughout the City still,…
Professor Michael Mainelli and Ian Harris (see bio's at end of blog entry) are regular guests of the Financial Services Club, and were invited back to close the London season of meetings with an engaging discussion about the Price of Fish. You may wonder what anything in banking has to do with The Price of…
There’s a buzz that’s started about Facebook banking asCommonwealth Bank of Australia and ICICI Bank get into Facebook banking apps, with Citibank fast to follow. What’s going on? Originally, we all though Facebook would take over bank functions through stealth creep via Facebook credits. Facebook credits are in fact worth around $1.5 billon a year…
And so to my final blog piece about Re|source 2012: Bill Clinton’s speech. Source: Getty Images What can you say about the man, the legend? The man who has felt more ladies knicker elastic than Marks & Spencer’s head underwear tester. No, that’s not important. You know, I was amazed about the reverence, excitement and…
For those who are really into the information I've been writing about sustainability and resource management for the future from Re|source 2012, here's the official write-up of Bill Clinton's speech: PRESIDENT CLINTON TELLS RESOURCE 2012 COOPERATION IS ONLY WAY TO SOLVE RESOURCE CHALLENGES The most important decision of the 21st century is whether the…
